Retorts

Hydroelectric Resources

Russell Howie's assumption [June] that more hydro development will be needed to serve our requirements in the future is probably correct. However, the more we rely on hydro production, the more damage we might be doing to lake shores and plant life.

One shudders to think of the unsightly damage that might result from the drawdown of a fluctuating Lake Dunstan when, or if, it is filled. Not to mention the destabilising of the rather shaky lake sides.

The problem therefore is not so much the building of new hydro dams but the building of safe ones. No one denies the stupidity of burning natural gas and getting only about one-third of its calorific value out as electricity, not to mention the megatonnes of carbon dioxide it exudes.

We would like to see more research into solar and wind power. Is that being done here? Why keep on wrecking our rivers?

Also, one important scenario for the global warming possibilities shows a ten percent -- at least -- reduction in rainfall in the main catchment areas in the South Island. Even our existing hydro generation may not be as bountiful as it has been.

Trevor Reeves & Judith Wolfe, Dunedin